Mariners may turn out to be role models for this season's Sabres

'Buffalo is loaded with young players who are approaching or within waving distance of their primes, and most of those primes are just starting. Yes, they are without their superstar, goalie Dominik Hasek, and one of the league's best defensive forwards, Michael Peca. But sound drafting through the last five or six years prepared for that. What we have now is the potential hockey version of baseball's Seattle Mariners.'